skippy the bush kangaroo

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

coup coup ca choo

newsmax hopes the american military overthrows obama, but then thinks better about admitting it. thinkprogress:

in a column published on the right-wing site newsmax yesterday, john l. perry writes that a military coup against president obama is possible. newsmax appears to have taken down the column from its website this morning. media matters has archived it, however:

there is a remote, although gaining, possibility america’s military will intervene as a last resort to resolve the “obama problem.” don’t dismiss it as unrealistic. [...]

military intervention is what obama’s exponentially accelerating agenda for “fundamental change” toward a marxist state is inviting upon america. a coup is not an ideal option, but obama’s radical ideal is not acceptable or reversible.

unthinkable? then think up an alternative, non-violent solution to the obama problem. just don’t shrug and say, “we can always worry about that later.”

in his washington post column, former bush speechwriter michael gerson acknowledges that “military leaders seem impressed” with president obama’s decision-making process. “obama’s engaged, deliberate style has fans in the military,” he writes...

a spokeswoman for newsmax sent a statement to tpm admitting that the magazine removed the column after several reader complaints:

newsmax strongly believes in the principles of constitutional government and would never advocate or insinuate any suggestion of an activity that would undermine our democracy or democratic institutions.

tho newsmax is back-peddling, saying that perry is just an "unpaid blogger" with his own opinions, steve benen begs to differ:

earlier today, newsmax yanked the column from its site, and a representative distanced the outlet from the writer. perry, a newsmax spokesperson said, "has no official relationship with newsmax other than as an unpaid blogger."

given the rnc's financial support of worldnetdaily, this isn't a huge shock, though it does point to the motley crew the republican national committee is willing to work with in order to connect with the right-wing base.

top ten reasons meg whitman failed to vote for 28 years

meg whitman is a gop gubernatorial candidate and the former ceo of ebay. whitman didn't become a registered republican until 2007 and never registered to vote before 2002. whitman first told some tall-tales about her voting record, but has finally settled on explaining her lack of interest in civic affairs this way, "I was focused on raising a family, on my husband's career, and we moved many, many times."

That's a pretty poor excuse, but being a man of infinite generosity, i thought i'd offer some better excuses for candidate whitman so that she won't sound quite so astonishingly lame when explaining her disinterest in her duties as a citizen in the future.

why meg whitman never cast a vote in any election in 28 years10. the dog ate her registration card9. she was spending too much time in argentina with mark sanford's mistress8. her sympathies were with the republican party and didn't think women republicans were allowed to vote.7. she was focusing on more important things, like evading taxes, which was why she moved so many times.6. she sent her servants to vote for her and they didn't do their jobs.5. she registered to vote via acorn.4. ....okay, i ran out of stuff. letterman has a whole staff of writers to come up with this stuff. how about you folks add some of your own, hmm?

watery wall of terror

the idyllic virgin cove resort, on a secluded beach on upolu island, became a scene of mayhem this morning when a tsunami crashed into the collection of traditional samoan-style beach huts. -the age

a witness told radio new zealand that a village on the southeast coast of upolu, samoa's main island, had been flattened by the tsunami, and police were moving people to higher ground. - wsj

"it was very quick. the whole village has been wiped out," ansell told new zealand's national radio from a hill near samoa's capital, apia. "there's not a building standing. we've all clambered up hills, and one of our party has a broken leg. there will be people in a great lot of need 'round here." - latte times

burnsin' down the park

Mrs. Skippy and I DVR'd Sunday's episode and watched it last night. Admitted conflict: We both looovvved the national parks! At the end of this post I'll list every park we've visited (see above). We personally think that the National Park system is indeed one of the best features our government offers its citizens.

As Burns' premise points out, the idea of setting aside land in this country for use specifically for public viewing and enjoyment is a brilliant one, and apparently, a uniquely American one. The first episode delves into not only this idea, but the mechanics of how this idea evolved in the government of the time (the time being the late 1800's), and the specific individuals responsible for promoting this incredible new paradigm.

Of course, John Muir was highlighted. But so were Stephen Mather, John Colter, Galen Clark and other men who promoted the idea of making parks for the enjoyment of the American public.

Also richly detailed in first episode: how the first two parks, Yosemite and Yellowstone, came into being (Yosemite's land was set aside first, as a state park, but Yellowstone was the first national park).

I'm not a huge fan of Ken Burns' approach. His documentary style has been described as Talking Heads, Slow Music and Old Letters, which I would not disagree with. While this reverential approach worked for something as tragically epic as the Civil War, it rather seemed to be exactly the opposite of what was needed for something as exciting as baseball or American jazz.

And that's a bit of the problem with the National Parks films. As I said before, my wife and I love the parks system, and visit at least one a year. Nothing's more exciting and enriching than exploring the great outdoors, hiking through nature and enjoying new countryside.

But Burns' films make it seem like we're going to church. Sure, there's a lot to be awed by and thankful for, and far be it from me to dissuade anyone from communing with their God through Nature, but there was a severe lack of fun missing from Episode One.

The Narrators of the films are not to blame, as the Voice Actors used read their copy with great skill. Mrs. Skippy and I correctly picked out Peter Coyote (as the Main Narrator), as well as the voices of Phillip Bosco and Tom Bodette. But we missed other famous Voices, such as Amy Madigan, Carolyn McCormick and Tom Hanks. I'll chock that up to those actors doing such a fine job relating the words that I didn't get stuck on whose voice was doing the work at the time.

But, the great thing about a movie about the Park System is that you can watch it with the sound turned down, and it would still be enthralling. Burns' cinematographer Buddy Squires captured some of the most beautiful images found in the Parks, and while the pace of the films sometimes seems as slow as the glaciers in Glacier Bay, the pictures are spectacular.

I'd suggest everyone either DVR this series, or wait till it's out on DVD. It can get to be kind of slow at times. But it's certainly worth watching, if only for the views.

there is a remote, although gaining, possibility america's military will intervene as a last resort to resolve the "obama problem." don't dismiss it as unrealistic. - newsmax columnist quoted by media matters

where do we draw the line of what constitutes treason? sedition? inciting riots? where are the republicans standing up and calling a stop to this hysterical chant advocating violence toward the president of the united states? where are the democrats calling for a stop to this? why is the corporate controlled media allowing this call to violence to be broadcast nationwide? worldwide?

these people aren't going to stop at the killing of healthcare for americans. they want to kill the president.they keep saying so in so many words. and not a peep from those elected officials sworn to protect the constitution. not a peep.

the lynch type killing of a census worker is just a start of the bloodshed advocated from the fringe right. where was the outrage from michelle bachman against this attack on american soil on an american by an american? there was no outrage.she endorses it with her silence.

never mind the politics, here's a yootoob...

ebay announces new marketing technique

ebay will replace its old, worn-out buy it now button with a new buy it in 2017 button. citing democratic party strategies to hold off climate change bills, torture investigations, troop withdrawals and health care reform until after obama's second term would expire, ebay officials offered an apology to the american people. "we totally misread the american people and we are sorry for any pain or discomfort that fulfilling promises at the speed of light and overnight delivery may have caused."

skippy's monday nite music club

google earth meets climate change

in 3-d.

google is using its google earth mapping tool to simulate on a 3d map of the world the predicted effects of climate change until the year 2100.

using data provided by the intergovernmental panel on climate change, the search giant created new layers for google earth showing the range of expected temperature and precipitation changes under different global emissions scenarios that could occur throughout the century. - sydney morning herald

Saturday Night Dying

Skippy the Bush Kangaroo here, and I must say that last nite's premier episode of Saturday Night Live was without a doubt one of the three worst of all time, and I can't remember the other two off -hand (tho I'm pretty sure they both involved Joe Piscopo).

I've watched SNL since the Land Shark sketch (literally the first skit I ever saw), so it would come as no surprise to me if there was an episode with long stretches of uneveness. The surprise was a full 90 minutes with only one laugh (I'll get to that later). And the sketches which didn't produce any laughs (ie, all of them) also didn't produce any smiles or smirks, or thoughts of "That's clever," or "Ain't that the truth!" or even "Yeah, I could see where someone might think that was funny...if they were really, really stoned and stupid."

For the first time in my memory (and in 35 years of comedy) Saturday Night Live was not just "not good"...not just "bad"...but "completely and totally without reason to exist."

First, the good news: Megan Fox was actually kind of good, or at least really game to do whatever they threw at her. Unfortunately for us all, they didn't throw much besides "Stand there and look sexy" at her, which we already know she can do. The wonderful thing about SNL past is the chances it gave guest hosts to stretch themselves and try new things they wouldn't be caught dead doing elsewhere. Megan looked ready, willing and able...she held her own as a blonde southern stewardess playing against Kristen Wiig's blonde southern stewardess in a painfully-unfunny airplane sketch (which only made me nostaligic for David Spade and Helen Hunt: "Buh-bye! Buh-bye!").

Megan's performance actually took her up a couple of notches in my book. She was definately not the problem.

And the problem, or problems were many: for the first time in my memory, the SNL main cast consists of only one female, Kristen Wiig. (I swear, as Don Pardo introduced the cast, I thought I was watching Logo's Big Gay Sketch Show).

Now, Kristen Wiig's characters are funny the first 8500 times you see them, but without Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolf and Rachel Dratch to fill out the comedic side of her gender, Wiig's limitations become painfully obvious. Like most SNL alumnae before her, the characters are little more than an idea, or a collection of erractic/eccentric mannerisms. Last night she brought back her recurring Judy Grimes, a travel pundit who is so nervous about being on live tv that she babbles, contradicting herself with a "Just kidding" ad naseum. Unfortunately for Wiig, she hasn't done anything new with this character in 5 or so appearances, and so this pointless ad naseum babbling produced exactly that...naseum.

And, sorry to say, Wiig was one of the stronger parts of the show. Bill Hader, whom I always loved before, seemed to be somewhere else. He obviously was reading off his cue cards in an excrutiatingly long and stupid skit about Russian Mail Order Brides. Even guest host celebrity "air head" Megan Fox memorized her lines, and she had to say them in Russian! What's the matter, Bill, too busy with your Voice Over Work to attend rehearsals?

The guys in the cast were (barely) competent, but without funny women to balance them out, there was a heavy creep factor laying heavily on the whole show.

Now a word about the "new kids." Of course, the big news is that one of them, Jenny Slate, said the F-word on air (though it was cut out for my West Coast viewing, much to my chagrin. At least that would have made the show interesting at some point!). She, Wiig and Fox were doing a sketch called "Biker Chick Chat," a parody of...wait for it...talk shows! Yes, it was that original! But the joke here was that...wait for it...they swore! A lot! Hi-larious!!! Unfortunately for Slate, she mistakenly said "f*ckin" instead of "frickin." Fans may remember that Charles Rocket, Norm MacDonald and Cheri Oteri swore on the show, and the two men were unceremoniously dumped soon thereafter (though rumor has it that MacDonald's continuous ribbing of O.J. Simpson, a golfing buddy of NBC honcho Don Ohlenmeyer, is what done him in). It doesn't appear that the same fate awaits Slate, however, as head writer and cast member Seth Meyers hugged her in a concillatory manner at the closing credits.

But aside from using a bad word, none of the new cast stood out. Abby Elliott is back, and still cute and blonde, and still as boring as ever. And considering her pedigree (father Chris, and grandpa Bob, two of the premier comedians of their respective generations), she's got some 'splanin' to do, at least to me. Apparently not to Lorne, who also brought back (inexplicably) Bobby Moynihan, a guy who makes you long for the subtle nuance of Horatio Sanz. Also on hand,Nasim Pendrad, a woman I did not notice, and had to look up to find out her name.

If I were Lorne Michaels, I'd be kicking myself silly for letting the fabulous Michaela Watkins go (not so much Casey Wilson; she never seemed to rise to the occasion). Michaela, I thought, showed great diversity of characters and fine comic focus with her dead-on portrayl of Arianna Huffington, as well as Hoda Kotb. But one of the supreme hi-lites of last season for me was Michaela's appearances as blogger Angie Tempura, writer of Bitchpleeze.com. Perhaps because I'm a blogger myself, and know how the shallowness of blogs can get old fast, but I loved that character, and was waiting for more.

All in all, a terrible, terrible simply horrible show. Without question, it was the worst season opening in 35 years (considering they had all summer to come up with something). My advice to Michaels: if writing the extra Thursday night show is too much for the staff, give it up. Also, bring back Watkins as a regular cast member. Otherwise, forget about it.

Now, as promised, the one funny joke from the episode. Seth Meyers, during Update, told us:

Momar Khadafy, in his speech to the U.N., called for the creation of the new state, Isralestine, or a place that would be home for both Israelis and Palestinians. Or as we call it in New York: Queens.

Too bad there were 89 other minutes and 45 other seconds in the whole show.

Addendum: All right, I'll admit there was one other joke that made me smile (but not laugh out loud, like the Queens joke above). In a sketch called "Your Mom Talks to Megan Fox While You Get Ready," Kristen Wiig asks Megan, "So, Megan, you were in that movie, Transforms? Those giant robots, were they puppets or CSI?"

Also, Mrs. Skippy mused aloud during the show last night: Which is worse, SNL or the Jay Leno Show?

environmental news story sunday

those stories that aren't easily found on the front page of your corporate paperfrom motown to hoetown. - businessman matt allen is pitching a radical and highly contentious solution for shrinking detroit. empty whole parts of the city, dig up the concrete, yank down the light poles, and reclaim what was here before a guy named henry ford moved to town: farmland

putting your investments where your dinner is.- combine poisonous factory-farm tomatoes with disgraced investment banker bernard madoff. then throw in a stock market disaster that cost investors their life savings. you may have the recipe for a revolution. - cbc canada

skulls found on mafia ship laden with toxic waste. - toronto star - pressure is growing on the italian government to act over revelations that 30 or more ships with radioactive cargoes, deliberately sunk by the mafia, may be polluting the mediterranean. - london independent

maldives’ cabinet all wet over the climate.- politicians rarely admit when they sink to new depths but for the maldives government, it’s a badge of honour. president mohamed nasheed will host an underwater cabinet meeting to draw attention to the impact of climate change on the indian ocean archipelago. - afp

breathing problems as dust rolls north. - the second dust storm in a week is causing more health problems in new south wales and residents in south-western queensland are also struggling to see through the haze as it moves towards brisbane - abc news australia

dust storms spread deadly diseases. - huge dust storms, like the ones that blanketed sydney twice last week, hit queensland yesterday and turned the air red across much of eastern australia, are spreading lethal epidemics around the world. - london observer

hazed and confused. - a haze has choked southeast asia on and off for more than a decade. if singapore is wincing from an overdose of carbon monoxide, then so too is the entire indonesian archipelago along with malaysia, from the tip of north borneo to southern thailand and beyond - bankok post

lawsuit weighs atrazine's threat to water supplies.- a madison county class-action lawsuit filed in 2004 over the use of the popular herbicide atrazine is gaining steam, and one lawyer says it could reshape farming practices nationwide. - belleville news democrat

vanishing aspens. - fall is upon us. and for the rocky mountain west that means the beautiful gold colors of the aspens. but, increasingly, the aspens are dying. scientists report that drought conditions in the rocky mountain west are contributing to sad, sudden aspen decline. - living on earth

caring for resources key to smokies' future.- the challenges to the smokies ecosystem are well-known and well-documented - air pollution, invasive species and fringe development that constricts important habitats - knoxville news sentinel

mcdonald's spud has had its chips as quest begins for greener potato. - it's often criticised as a standard bearer of a global capitalism that puts profits before the environment. but the giant mcdonald's fast food empire has now launched a mission to produce an eco-friendlier french fry. - edinburough scotsmanharvesting hope.- a chicago homeless shelter's greenhouses are transforming soil and souls -- and not necessarily in that order -- thanks to an urban plant expert, a former heroin addict and a million or so worms - chicago tribune

30-mile fish kill at dunkard creek.- when fish started dying in dunkard creek, west virginia environmental regulators, along with federal officials struggled unsuccessfully to figure out what happened, but dunkard creek was having problems long before fish started going belly up. - charleston gazette

vote for a good cause

a friend of mine who directed me in a short film just co-wrote and directed this psa. please go to the link and check it out and vote for it. it's a good cause! it's called "one million strong" and scroll down to vote for it. thanks!

brad slaight

please vote for “one million strong”—the breast cancer awareness psa susan sarandon gave us her voice! now it’s your turn to give us your vote! vote here between friday, 9/25, and sunday, 10/4:

skippy's saturday nite music club

22-yr old constituent of congressman john boehner dies from swine flu

kimberly young didn't seek medical care because she was uninsured and afraid of the costs. boehner should explain to her parents why he wants americans, like their daughter, to die. boehner needs to explain why the republican party allows 15 9/11's a year.

friends say the miami university graduate who died this week after reportedly suffering from swine flu delayed getting medical treatment because she did not have health insurance.

news of kimberly young’s death wednesday, sept. 23, came as a shock to those who knew the vibrant 22-year-old who was working at least two jobs in oxford after graduating with a double major in december 2008.

young became ill about two weeks ago, but didn’t seek care initially because she didn’t have health insurance and was worried about the cost, according to brent mowery, her friend and former roommate. - daytona daily news

according to the kaiser family foundation, 30 percent of 19-24 year olds are uninsured, more than any other group. despite the conservative argument that young people are voluntarily refusing health coverage in favor of extra spending money, the reality is that high costs on the individual market put coverage out of reach. as suzy khimm notes at campus progress, young people “are far more likely to be working part-time or lower-paying jobs for employers who don’t offer coverage” - think progress

let's see if one single talking head sunday corporate media peep asks a rethuglican a question about the tragedy of kimberly young's passing. one question...a single question to republicans who want to keep letting americans die needlessly.

romanesco broccoli

the strange vegetable in the photo below is called a "romanesco broccoli". mrs dbk and i had seen it at the farmer's market a week or two ago and been meaning to try it and also the cheddar cauliflower we saw (which is cheddar cheese in color, but we couldn't find one this week so we didn't buy one and i didn't get a photograph...i was told it is sweeter than the white variety). we were unfamiliar with the romanesco broccoli and i was surprised to learn it that it was first documented in the sixteenth century. it tasted fine, more like a broccoli than a cauliflower, though we were told it was a hybrid of the two.(click photo to embiggen)

i just thought you might enjoy seeing it if you had never seen one before.

but to say that flashforward is not lost is like saying the dharma initiative may have made a slight error bringing ben linus to the island: an extreme understatement.

for those of you not up on your science fiction premises, the entire world blacks out for 2 min and 17 seconds in flashforward. while they are asleep, every human being sees visions of themselves (at least, the lucky ones do). it turns out these visions are of the future; 6 months into the future, to be exact, for everybody.

like most science fiction on abc a good premise does not promise a good show (see defying gravity, invasion). clunky writing, confusing relationships, and a ham-fisted lack of subtlety handicapped otherwise good actors.

for instance, joseph fiennes (ralph's brother), as an fbi agent pursuing terrorists on downtown la streets, awakes from his blackout to find himself in the middle of the biggest traffic accident ever. after wandering around dazed for a bit, he finds his partner haroldsulu john cho, and then they find the terrorist they were chasing. they handcuff her, and then joseph says he has to take off to check on his family. way to go fbi! forget taking control of the terrorist's arrest, and don't bother about helping the twenty gazillion other folks in the worlds biggest traffic accident on the 110 interchange in downtown la, go walking to find your family!

a worse example of bad writing: after fiennes walks thru downtown a bit (and seeing a kangaroo...points for that one from skippy!), he joins some people staring into a television repair shop where all the tvs are tuned to the news.

the news casters say "it's happening all over the world!" and then someone in the crowd says "it's happening all over the world!" just in case you didn't hear it the first time.

that "on-the-nose" writing is not as bad, actually, as the idea that a mere 15 or 20 minutes after a world wide event that disrupts literally every human process going on, the news stations are smart enough to figure out what happened and where.

we lived thru the 1993 earthquake in la, and believe us, it took about 8 hours before the tv stations had cogent information to pass along. we doubt that every tv station would know so quickly the scope of a phenomenon without precedent.

it gets worse: back at the fbi, it takes a meeting of 5 or 6 agents about 3 minutes to figure out that everybody in the world saw the future. man, if we ever get kidnapped, we want these fbi agents on the case! they figure stuff out in record time!

the thing we love about lost (and we missed completely in flashforward) is the slow reveal. this is not to say that lost moves slowly; au contraire, the writing there is full of tension, depth, and character revelation. you first think lost is about survival, then about characters revealing their past, then about characters interacting...then, bam! it turns out it's about time travel, but you don't know that until the fourth season. lost takes its time revealing plot points, and often moves ahead in plot, only to revisit (and explain) plot points two or three episodes after they have happened.

if flashforward were lost, we wouldn't know that the entire world had blacked out until a couple of episodes later. we'd never know that people saw "the future" in their black outs until the end of season 1!

however, since "the future" that all the characters saw is coincidentally the same time as the last episode of the season, we suppose they have to move faster. we just wish they had more nuanced and clever writing.

acting ranges from great to "meh!" sonya walgner (from lost) as fiennes' surgeon-wife, and the afore-mentioned cho are great. however, fiennes does not have the gravitas or smoldering sexuality to carry a lead role that he will need for such an epic tv series (we are not homosexual, but if we crash-landed on an island w/matthew fox, we might change our minds)(altho if evangeline lilly was there, too, probably not)(tho we'd be open to a three-way).

and of course, courtney b. vance, the great ada from law and order: fat guy of a few seasons ago, as the head fbi guy brings his a-game, which is a delight.

however, we have seen our own future, and 6 months from now, we aren't watching flashfoward.

little legal heat in texas...and santa bar-b-que

the santa barbara county sheriff’s department has been informed that actor randy quaid and his wife evi quaid have been arrested near marfa, texas. each faces charges of burglary, defrauding an innkeeper and conspiracy; all three are felonies.

..in early september, sheriff’s detectives received a complaint that the quaids had not paid a bill in excess of $10,000 due to a local hotel.- sbpolice department

digging digby

we're w/digby on the acorn crap:

back during the presidential campaign i predicted that the right was going to manufacture some scandal about obama and i thought it would probably have something to do with corruption in chicago. i was off on that prediction, but i think i see the contours of the scandal machine emerging now in a slightly different way. indeed, it's much more consciously racial than i would have predicted, but it's even more than that. the subliminal racist association with obama is just part of it --- acorn, van jones and the impending attacks on seiu are all attacks on institutions and individuals which politically organize the poor and minorities and encourage their involvement in the electoral process. it's clever and quite politically useful for the right to target those whom they can't expect to win over and demobilize some of the most effective ground operations and grassroots leadership of the democratic party. they've always been about the vote suppression. and they always think ahead.

the methods of dissemination are the same as they ever were. they push the "scandal" through the right wing noise machine, work the refs hard (which isn't hard to do because the villagers are convinced that the right wing represents "real america") and they create the illusion that something "doesn't pass the smell test." here, we see that the wingnuts have convinced the washington post that "something is wrong," that the "van jones story" was a huge deal which they failed to cover and that they need to be more vigilant about ferreting out these important issues. at the same time the villagers are busily convincing themselves that the fact that all these players are black is coincidental and irrelevant because none of them have a racist bone in their bodies and yet they "feel" there must be something to all this. in fact, i think they are probably in the process of convincing themselves that only by relentlessly covering these scandals can they prove just how colorblind they really are.

unfortunately, the left won't be able to counter this by writing as many emails or complaining more vociferously since such tactics only reinforce the village's apparent fear that the liberals have taken over, thus motivating them to be even more vigilant in presenting the "opposing view." i'm not sure what to do about this, but i'm not sure one has to. after all, it's not like this is anything new. the last ombudsman also lamented the alleged lack of proper deference to conservative points of view in their straight reporting:

neither the hard-core right nor left will ever be satisfied by post coverage -- and that's as it should be. but it's true that the post, as well as much of the national news media, has written more stories and more favorable stories about barack obama than john mccain. editors have their reasons for this, but conservatives are right that they often don't see their views reflected enough in the news pages. . . .

the post's latest circulation losses were less than many large papers suffered, and business executives say the advertising downturn has more to do with the economy than with political coverage. that said, the imbalance still needs to be corrected

if papers like the washington post and the new york times (which also believes it needs to give conservatives special attention) really believe that their precarious financial future is served by following the glenn beck agenda, then we won't have to worry about them much longer anyway.

bad news from the anti-gummit front

a u.s. census worker found hanged from a tree near a kentucky cemetery had the word "fed" scrawled on his chest, a law enforcement official said wednesday, and the fbi is investigating whether he was a victim of anti-government sentiment.

the law enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss the case and requested anonymity, did not say what type of instrument was used to write the word on the chest of bill sparkman, a 51-year-old part-time census field worker and teacher. he was found sept. 12 in a remote patch of the daniel boone national forest in rural southeast kentucky.

the census has suspended door-to-door interviews in rural clay county, where the body was found, pending the outcome of the investigation. an autopsy report is pending.

investigators have said little about the case. fbi spokesman david beyer said the bureau is assisting state police and declined to confirm or discuss any details about the crime scene.

"our job is to determine if there was foul play involved — and that's part of the investigation — and if there was foul play involved, whether that is related to his employment as a census worker," said beyer.

we'd suggest that being hung from a tree w/some word or words scrawled on one's body might indeed be "foul play involved."

lucindia scurry-johnson, assistant director of the census bureau’s southern office in charlotte, n.c., said law enforcement officers have told the agency the matter is “an apparent homicide” but nothing else.

i would still caution against assuming that this was anti-government right-wing violence unless and until more details emerge.

w/all due respect, doug, we doubt that the killer wrote the word "fed" on the victim because he had just had a big lunch.

Monday, September 21, 2009

but how does that explain "the jay leno show"?

tommy westfall's mind is a live journal community exploring character cross-overs on tv shows, premised on the idea that since a couple of characters from st. elsewhere appeared on homicide: life on the streets, the latter show, like the former, must exist entirely in tommy's mind.

the last episode of st. elsewhere, you might remember, revealed that (much like newhart after it, which is also included in the tommy-verse) the entire action and cast of characters were simply the product of one character's imagination.

logic (if that's the right word, tho "snark" might be a closer fit) dictates that, because dr. ehrlich and dr. turner later appeared on homicide, ergo the entire universe of life on the streets must follow st. elsewhere as a product of tommy's flight of fancy.

and going from that, cross-overs of characters of homicide to and from law and order make that entire universe an extension of tommy's interior monologue.

(here's where the theory gets dicey, according to critics. the l&o aspect must mean that mayor michael bloomberg, who appeared to introduce district attorney dianne wiest in an episode, is also in tommy's mind, and therefor, all of reality, including you and us. maybe. that would explain the current state of the gop, at least.)

but since richard belzer's delightful character of det. munch has appeared on numerous tv shows, the tommy westfall universe expands ever-widening. and according to the key, everything from dr. who to de grassi high is involved.

we'd say that the guys who run this blog have way too much time on their hands, but that's rather like the cyberpot calling the cyberkettle slack.

and you can't spell "racism" without "g-o-p"

dave neiwert, over @ c&l, prominent (if moderate) repubbblicans are actually admitting that the beck/limbaugh wing of the gop are race-baiting...and potentially dangerous:

it was somewhat gratifying to see chris matthews' right-leaning panel on his sunday show -- which was, as expected, eager to deny the role of racism in the ugly animus that's been directed at barack obama -- at least admit the truth:

david brooks: what rush and glenn beck are doing is race-baiting. 100 percent. that's race-baiting.

...

kathleen parker: what rush limbaugh and beck did in those two clips is to empower racists.

but it was even more interesting to watch brooks in particular somehow manage to stumble upon the core of the problem:

matthews: would the white house like the leaders of both parties to say, 'cool it'?

brooks: well, i think they would. first, i think father coughlin was objecting to fdr, and he -- that's what we're seeing, father coughlin, that's what these guys are –

matthews: and he was far right.

brooks: he was far right. the white house understands, you've got 10 percent of the country over here on the wacky right, 10 percent on the wacky left, that's not what they can pay attention to. and they're not going to pay attention to it. they're sticking with the independents -- that's what the health care, why it's tending toward the center.

the one danger -- the main danger of all this, the glenn and the rush and all that -- they're not going to take over the country. but they are taking over the republican party.

and so if the republican party is sane, they will say no to these people. but every single elected leader in the republican party is afraid to take on rush and glenn beck.

of course, that would be giving up far too many votes. the gop has made its bed with the sheets of the kkk and the pillowcases of ayn rand, the quilts of the birthers and the bedskirts of the libertarians, and now they will have to lie in it.

editor's addendum: in re: libaugh, we are concerned, but not surprised, that the hardly-ever-right is screaming about the "black kids beating up white kids on the bus," but have nary peeped about the cracker barrel incident.

the action of the kids, while disgusting, can be attributed to "run-of-the-mill" (tho still deplorable) school bullying. but of course, you're not hearing that in the hate-media.stltoday.com:

the beating, videotaped by the school bus camera, grabbed national attention and incited a heated debate about race. police initially said the assaults, involving a white victim and two black assailants, may have been racially motivated.

authorities later recanted that claim. but the accusation stuck, in both national media and among residents here.

the arrest occurred shortly after an interview with the news-democrat, during which the youth, who is black, said he didn't start the fight but that he did throw the first punch. he said a 17-year-old student, who is white, started the fight by knocking his books to the floor and then sitting next to him and jabbing him with an elbow.

the 14-year-old was arrested about 2 p.m. by belleville police and taken to the st. clair county juvenile detention center, said his father, joe fisher of belleville, who was present during the interview...

the ninth grader said the older student entered the bus and walked to the rear area and told the 14-year-old to move his books, and when he didn't, the 17-year-old pushed them to the floor.

"he told me to move my stuff, and then he pushed my stuff on the floor and sat down. i told him to pick up my books and he didn't say anything. he elbowed me, so i pushed him back. he pushed me again and then i started hitting him," said the youth, who has been suspended from school for 10 days. he receives his school assignments at home.

you can't spelled "emmy" without "m - e"

the only surprise on the emmy awards telecast last nite was that a show celebrating the pinnacle of popular entertainment could be so boring and lame.

for an in-depth snarkfest for anything showbiz, of course, we turn to our correspondent in la-la-land, tallulah morehead:

when showing the nominees for supporting actress in a comedy series, band concert, or religious pageant, devout christer kristin chenoweth felt it necessary to show us she has a tongue. well, she's gone to great lengths over the years with her christian blather to show us she has no brain; i guess she felt a need to show us that her head contains at least one functioning organ.

all the nominees in this category participated in a funny-eyeglasses running gag, except vanessa williams, who apparently snobbishly considered herself above it. maybe if it had been an embarrassing-lesbian-photo-shoot running gag she'd have felt more at home. fortunately she lost. unfortunately, it went to the nasal christian bimbo i can't stand. she was crying, as was i. that chenoweth creature over amy poehler and kristen wiig? insane! where's kanye west when he could do some good? is there a restraining order keeping him away from award shows?

they had my lovely cat deely announcing an opportunity for home viewers to vote during the show (more fun than watching it?) for an award to be given at the end. of course, watching in california, she was shown with a caption saying: "recorded earlier. voting is closed." how nice. a treat just for east coast viewers. whose bright idea was that? someone in new york, i'd guess.

the daily show's john hodgeman did a bit about being the off-camera announcer that ended with, "may i come on tv now?" to which harris replied, "not tonight, john, not tonight," a gag that might have played better if he hadn't been on camera as he said it! somebody clueless is handling the "comedy."

in the category best writing of a comedy series, verse play, or spelling bee, somehow there was one nominee that wasn't 30 rock, but of course the rogue nominee didn't win. matt hubbard, the writer who won, looks to be about 12 years old. he thanked his wife. gays aren't allowed to marry, but children are? shouldn't you at least go through puberty before marrying? his voice was higher than the chenoweth creature's. what is this, utah?

kenya's pain. - children are starving, cattle are dropping dead, crops are withered, lakes are empty, and still the rains haven't come. kenya is on the verge of a catastrophe of biblical proportions. is the once stable nation a warning to the world about the perils of ignoring climate change, government corruption, and global food and water shortages? - mongabay

keeping the breadbasket from drying up. - right now, america's bread basket relies on an aquifer that's nearly drained. and, many say, it will dry up if farmers keep pumping water from it at the current rate. so, the government plans to pay farmers as one way to get them to cut water use. - environment report

israel mourns the dying dead sea. - the sea has, from a time beyond the memory even of the bible, been fed by that most famous of waterways, the river jordan. and therein lies the problem. today, by the time the river reaches its end, there is almost no water left, and dead sea is now shrinking at a terrifying speed. - bbc

step up the pace on great lakes cleanup. - the report last week the cleanup of the most polluted sites on the great lakes is going so slowly that it will take 77 years to complete the job is disheartening to say the least. - sheboygan press

the crap shoot. - most people have about 0.14 grams of feces on their bottoms that, when rinsed off, can contaminate recreational water, according to the cdc. this suggests that d.c. pools have potentially hosted as much as 50 pounds of feces this summer. - washington city paper

polluters exploit lax oversight. - the obama administration, which has pledged to build a stronger environmental record than its predecessors, needs to reinvigorate the nation's commitment to upholding the standards of the clean water act and ensure that all states are enforcing the law. - hamilton roads virginian pilot

gov't stands by as mercury taints water. - abandoned mercury mines throughout central california's rugged coastal mountains are polluting the state's major waterways, rendering fish unsafe to eat and risking the health of at least 100,000 impoverished people - the ap

gender-bending fish widespread in the u.s. - a survey of "feminization" of fish finds that a large percentage of male bass are producing egg cells. scientists suspect this abnormal phenomenon is the result of synthetic chemicals in water that mimic the behavior of female hormones - npr

fox news: you suck! rick sanchez: you lie!

the brad blog explains how cnn's rick sanchez took umbrage (and anything else he could get his hands on) to faux news' contention that cnn and other "lie-beral" networks didn't cover the tea baggers in dc:

after slamming fox by showing clips of cnn's extensive (some might say gratuitous, frankly) coverage, and even a clip showing bill o'reilly on fox discussing the fact that cnn covered the event, sanchez went for the jugular:

here's the facts. we did cover the event. what we didn't do is promote the event.

just like when thousands marched on washington to protest the war in iraq, we covered it as well. probably less than we covered this event. [ed note: no kidding!] but we didn't promote it. ... bottom line is, we do cover the news, and we did extensively cover this event.

we didn't promote the event. that's not what real news organizations are supposed to do. we covered the event. i would invite you to look into that distinction, between those two words: "promote" and "cover".

"cover" is kind of like a fair and balanced way of doing things. ya get it? you might want to look into that.

...let me address the fox news network now, perhaps the most current way that i can, by quoting someone who recently used a very pithy phrase. two words. that's all i need. "you lie!"

Friday, September 18, 2009

skippy's friday nite music club

one more night of beatle buzz...it's been an interesting week remembering the mob tops from across the pond. revisiting the songs of the beatles was touching upon various segments of my life. i grew up to their songs...their influence...i was a little beatlemaniac. i could do voice imitations of the fab four. i judged my peers by their favorite beatle...mine was ringo, with john close behind. i remember making off with my friend's older siblings beatles albums and dancing all night at sleepovers to various songs. we memorized all the rumours about paul's supposed death. my theme song for our move from new hampshire to california was "get back."

it was a simpler time. it was a period of exploration. it was fun. it was soul searching. there was always a beatles song to be part of the soundtrack of life. "once there was a way to get back homeward"...but, alas no more. john, paul, george and ringo were gods in my eyes...in many folks' eyes...and that image was a weight too mighty to carry...but boy did they carry it for years. and carried it so well.

"republican rep. joe wilson? racist, because he shouted "you lie!" at the first black president."—no, wilson has been accused of being motivated by racism because he has a demonstrable history of associating himself with racist organizations and symbols, and because it seems like a mighty strong coincidence that a white congressman who unapologetically affiliates with racist organizations and symbols would have a wildly disrespectful—and unprecedented—outburst during the speech of a black president. "he's white and he yelled at the first black president" is absurdly reductive of the complex argument underlying the charge of racism against wilson.

"health care protesters, affirmative action supporters? racist."—i've not seen anyone anywhere actually accuse all healthcare protesters of being racist. certainly, plenty of people have quite rightly noted that the protests have had incidents of overt racism, and that the intensity of the protests, the violent hatred of the president, is disproportionate, quite obviously because of his race. to deny that evident reality is to deny a 200+ year national history of white mob violence against "uppity" blacks. of course there are people who object to obama's policies for reasons other than his being black; but there are also people who object to obama's policies because he is black, or object to them in a manner they would not if he weren't black. the only people saying, "all healthcare protesters are racists!" are rightwingers who are deliberately misconstruing a legitimate argument about the relationship between incendiary/violent rhetoric and racial animosity…

"but if everybody's racist, is anyone?"—ah, the old "if racism is that ubiquitous, it must not even be real" canard. straw-argument.

"the word is being sprayed in all directions"—another straw-argument. it is not "being sprayed," which connotes nonspecific targets, in all directions. there are people who "spray" accusations of racism all over the place, like throwing shit at a wall just to see what sticks. but responsible commentators, especially among social justice progressives, are not "spraying" accusations of racism, but painstakingly demonstrating patterns of historical racism and teasing out the cultural memes and narratives that underlie the rhetoric and actions they've identified as racially-motivated. that ain't spray; that's scholarship.

"creating a hall of mirrors"—the "spray" doesn't create the hall of mirrors. the media's refusal to distinguish between "spray" and scholarship does.

we were especially taken back by the misdirection that "joe wilson is a racist because he yelled @ obama." especially when it has been documented that "joe wilson is a racist because he is a racist." dave niewert points out:

looking into the background of rep. joe wilson, r-south carolina, after his heckling of president obama last night, i came across this:

joe also has been a member of the columbia world affairs council, fellowship of christian athletes, sinclair lodge 154, jamil temple, woodmen of the world, sons of confederate veterans, ....

this is an organization that, as the splc has detailed assiduously, has been taken over in the past decade by radical neo-confederates who favor secession and defend slavery as a benign institution. leading the takeover is a radical racist named kirk lyons, who's been an important legal figure on the far right for some years…

now, add this to the fact that joe wilson, as a state legislator, was one of only seven republicans to go against their own party and vote to keep the dixie rebel flag flying over the south carolina capitol:

the flag came down that year after republicans in both houses went for a compromise that would put it on statehouse grounds at the confederate soldier’s monument. the “magnificent seven” of senators who voted to keep the flag up included current congressman joe wilson (who i served with in the 218th infantry brigade of the national guard.)

a clearer picture of why this congressman might so virulently breach protocol and loudly interrupt an african-american president's speech to congress by calling him a liar does start to emerge, doesn't it?

certainly, the charge of racism has appeared more and more as of late, but rather than because people are godwin's lawing it to death, it's more probably because overt racism has crawled out of the private gutters it lived in for the past several decades to grow strong in the public square.

the overton window of what is acceptable in race-baiting standards has moved perceptively. cnn actually had the gall to debate on whether this picture was racist or just clever satire;

of course, it's cnn that is using logical fallacies to promote their own agenda here (this one being the "we journalists are so neutral, we present both sides"). but this false binary is also muddying the waters. even if you could, by some stretch of the imagination, call this satire, that does not mean that it's not also racist.

there's no way the depiction of a black man as a stereotypical cartoon african native cannot be construed as demeaning, disrespectful, disempowering and race-based.

of course it's possible to reject obama's policies and philosophy without being racist. but there's a particularly nasty edge to the most vitriolic attacks -- a rejection not of obama's programs but of his legitimacy as president. this denial of legitimacy is more pernicious than the abuse heaped upon george w. bush by his critics (including me), and i can't find any explanation for it other than race.

i'm not talking about the majority of the citizens who went to town hall meetings to criticize obama's plans for health-care reform or the majority of the "tea bag" demonstrators who complain that obama is ushering in an era of big government. those are, of course, legitimate points of view. protest is part of our system. it's as american as apple pie.

i'm talking about the crazy "birthers." i'm talking about the nitwits who arrive at protest rallies bearing racially offensive caricatures -- obama as a witch doctor, for example. i'm talking about the idiots who toss around words like "socialism" to make obama seem alien and even dangerous -- who deny the fact that he, too, is as american as apple pie.

robinson goes on to explain how wilson voted to keep the confederate flag in his state house. which exemplifies the fact that context is everything, especially when dealing with race-baiting.

skippy's thursday nite music club

sex, drugs and royalties

the interior department shuts a lobbyist back door entrance.

the scandal-ridden program that allows industry to provide oil and natural gas directly to the interior department in lieu of cash royalty payments will be killed, interior secretary ken salazar said today.

"the royalty-in-kind program has been a blemish, in my view, on this department," salazar said at a house natural resources committee hearing. "there were allegations of sex and drugs and a whole host of other inappropriate conduct. ... my decision is that it's time for us to end the royalty-in-kind program."

...natural resources chairman nick rahall (d-w.va.) has introduced a sweeping bill, h.r. 3534 (pdf), that would overhaul the federal royalty system and make other broad changes to interior's regulation of oil and gas drilling on federal lands and waters. rahall's bill would also eliminate the royalty-in-kind program.- nytimes/greenwire

with "educated" citizens like these

no wonder we're on the fast track to nowheresville.

only one in four oklahoma public high school students can name the first president of the united states, according to a survey released today.

...about 92 percent of the people who take the citizenship test pass on their first try, according to immigration service data. however, oklahoma students did not fare as well. only about 3 percent of the students surveyed would have passed the citizenship test.-news9.com

no wonder these folks bash immigrants...those new to the country know more about it than those residents who profess to love it so much.

tea baggers angry that socialist agenda didn't work well

protesters who attended saturday’s tea party rally in washington found a new reason to be upset: apparently they are unhappy with the level of service provided by the subway system.

rep. kevin brady asked for an explanation of why the government-run subway system didn’t, in his view, adequately prepare for this past weekend’s rally to protest government spending and government services.

seriously.

the texas republican on wednesday released a letter he sent to washington’s metro system complaining that the taxpayer-funded subway system was unable to properly transport protesters to the rally to protest government spending and expansion.

so, let's get this straight. the free market capitalists are mad that a socialist nanny-state-run transit system didn't adequately serve their needs. here's a suggestion, folks: take a cab, rent a car, hire a limo, spend some money.

we'll see your schuster and raise you a hamsher

more malkin lying

they aren't even clever enough to tell believable lies. you know that teabagger march on saturday, the one where the teabaggers are claiming attendance in excess of a million and all reasonable reports show it was around 70,000? here's the photo that michelle malkin has been running of the "event":

here's a live cam shot from the day of the event showing the same location. notice the american flag in the foreground in each photo? notice that in malkin's photo it's at half-mast? was the flag at half-mast on saturday?is the stupidity of some liars not amazing?

journalist, investigate thyself

thers @ whiskey fire, on the role politico plays in propigating gop memes in the media:

the politico has a hot breaking story, a major scoop: you may not believe this, but somehow, by some mysterious process, absurd phony partisan-propaganda "news" stories get pushed by drudge and the crazy right wing and then -- get this -- magically end up all over the main stream media! amazing!

i sure hope those crack reporters over at the politico can use their awesome investigative skills to find out just what the connection might be between ridiculous drudge crap and "legitimate" news. it's almost like there is some sort of shadowy middleman...

gee, if we could only figure out who keeps mentioning drudge to the capitol hill folks all the time. get right on that, politico, will ya?

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

skippy's tuesday nite music club

teabaggers: 2 million! us: you lie!

media matters, via steve benen, traces how confusion became a lie, and a lie became their story (and they're sticking to it!):

several conservative blogs have been quoting national park service spokesman "dan bana" as saying the 9/12 protest was "the largest event held in washington, d.c., ever." this appears to be a repurposing of this quote from david barna (who, unlike dan bana, appears to be a real person):

david barna, a park service spokesman, said the agency did not conduct its own count. instead, it will use a washington post account that said 1.8 million people gathered on the us capitol grounds, national mall, and parade route.

"it is a record," barna said. "we believe it is the largest event held in washington, d.c., ever."

very impressive! unfortunately, as little green footballs pointed out, that quote was actually about the inauguration:

here's the video over at cspan of millions on the mall. incredible. look at the pan of the crowd shot. the left fascists are debating the number to take the focus off what happened in washington, d.c., this weekend. i'll go with the parks department estimates, thankyouverymuch.

a 9-12 participant in dc claims to have overheard dc police discussing the crowd numbers. they put the numbers at over 2 million -- and those were only the people who could make it into the city. the local authorities as well as many participants claim that many many more could not even get into the city to the core of the protest.

add this to the propensity this weekend of the hardly-ever-right to claim a pic of the promise keeper's march in the 90's as their own tea-bagging. tampabay.com:

pete piringer, public affairs officer for the d.c. fire and emergency department, said the local government no longer provides official crowd estimates because they can become politicized. but the day of the rally, piringer unofficially told one reporter that he thought between 60,000 and 75,000 people had shown up.

"it was in no way an official estimate," he said.

we asked piringer whether there were enough protesters to fill the national mall, as depicted in the photograph.

"it was an impressive crowd," he said. but after marching down pennsylvania avenue to the capitol, the crowd "only filled the capitol grounds, maybe up to third street," he said.

yet the widely posted photograph showed the crowd sprawling all the way to the washington monument, which is bordered by 15th and 17th streets.

there's another problem with the photograph: it doesn't include the national museum of the american indian, a building at the corner of fourth street and independence avenue that opened on sept. 14, 2004. (looking at the photograph, the building should be in the upper right hand corner of the national mall, next to the air and space museum.) that means the picture was taken before the museum opened five years ago. so clearly the photo doesn't show the "tea party" crowd from the sept. 12 protest.

also worth noting are the cranes in front of the smithsonian museum of natural history. according to randall kremer, the museum's director of public affairs, "the last time cranes were in front was in the 1990s when the imax theater was being built."

it appears that the photo was actually taken in 1997 at a rally for promise keepers, a group for christian men. according to the group's web site, nearly 1 million people attended the event. photos of the oct. 4, 1997, event that were posted on various web sites in 2003, 2008 and earlier this year show either the same picture or a similar photo that has identical tents and what appear to be tv screens in the same locations.

conservative bloggers who originally posted the picture have backed down.

you can see a pattern emerging: the same ol' "if we say it's true, it is, because we say it's true."

happy holiest of holies

i'd really rather you didn't build multimillion-dollar churches/temples/mosques/shrines to my noodly goodness when the money could be better spent (take your pick):a) ending povertyb) curing diseasesc) living in peace, loving with passion, and lowering the cost of cable

i might be a complex-carbohydrate omniscient being, but i enjoy the simple things in life. i ought to know. i am the creator.

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